MSU hosts state's best young musicians at Montana All-State Music Festival Oct. 16-18

October 9, 2013

Grammy-winning musician Mark O'Connor, who also developed a method of teaching students, will be featured in the All-State Music Festival's Host Night concert at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17. For a portion of his performance, O'Connor will be accompanied by the All-Montana College Student/Faculty Orchestra with Tobin Stewart, MSU professor of music, conducting. High-Res Available

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Nearly 400 high school music students from throughout Montana will perform with nationally recognized musicians on Oct. 16-18 at the 2013 Montana All-State Festival to be held at Bozeman High School and Montana State University.

"This is an oportunity to see and hear the bright future of Montana musicians," said Greg Young, director of the Montana State University School of Music and one of the organizers of the event of the festival, which includes meetings of Montana's All-State Band, All-State Choir and All-State Orchestra.

Young explained that each year the top young musicians in the state, whose achievements have earned them spots on all-state bands, choir or orchestra, meet and perform together under the direction of some of the country's best conductors. The performances of the groups are open to the public.

The festival features Grammy-winning violinist Mark O'Connor and Angella Ahn, MSU violin professor and member of the internationally acclaimed Ahn Trio. They will perform with the MSU Symphony/Festival Orchestra at 7 p.m Thursday, Oct. 17, in the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse on the MSU campus.

O'Connor was a fiddle prodigy who won the Grand Masters Fiddle Championship as well as championships for his playing of the guitar and mandolin. He has become a Grammy-winning composer, arranger and musician who has recorded music across genres, including folk, classical and jazz. O'Connor has won two Grammy awards; one for his "New Nashville Cats" album and another for his "Appalachian Journey" album with Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer. He was named Musician of the Year by the Country Music Association from 1991-1996. He also developed the "O'Connor Method," a string instrument technique for music teachers and students. For a portion of his performance, O'Connor will be accompanied by the All-Montana College Student/Faculty Orchestra with Tobin Stewart, MSU professor of music, conducting.

Ahn and her sisters formed the Ahn Trio while all three studied at the Juilliard School of Music. They now tour the world, playing in such venues as New York's Lincoln Center, Vienna's Musikverein, Leipzig’'s Gewandhaus, Argentina’s Teatro Colon, and The Beijing Concert Hall. In 2011, President Obama invited the Ahn Trio to perform at the White House. The trio has six acclaimed recordings, one of which won the Echo Award, Germany's highest musical honor. The Ahns have also frequented the fashion pages of Vogue and GQ, and in 2003 were named three of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People."In 2010, they appeared in a one-page spread in Glamour Magazine.

Also performing at the Host Night Concert are The Four Divas. The quartet is composed of Margaret Kohler, Abigail Dueppen, Elizabeth Croy and Catherine Savery, all of Bozeman. MSU music professor Julie Gosswiller will accompany them.

Tickets for the concert are $10 and are available at www.ticketswest.com, or by calling the TikCat outlet, (406) 994-CATS.

The 2013 All-State Music Festival's Gala Concert will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18. at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.

The 2013 All-State Orchestra will be conducted by Anthony Maiello, a professor of music at George Mason University, a clinician, adjudicator and guest conductor of honor ensembles throughout the U.S. and internationally. The 2013 All-State Band will be conducted by Mark Scatterday, professor of conducting and chair of the Conducting and Ensembles Department at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. And, Axel Theimer will conduct the 2013 All-State Choir. A native of Austria, Theimer was a member of the Vienna Boys Choir. He is beginning his 45th year on the music faculty at St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict.

All seats for the gala concert are $10 and are available at www.ticketswest.com, or by calling the TikCat outlet, (406) 994-CATS.